Parallel Universe
by Pjaay
Summary: Emma stumbles across some Naruto characters, and tries her best to befriend them all. But what if one is her T.V crush? What will she do? And what does she do when their presence, is the thing causing her to deteriorate? GaaraXoc. EMMA IS NOT ME! OCCness!
1. New car

**Sup.**

**Another new story, ad don't worry, the other will be continued. But I have already don, like 7 chapters for this, s I think it's time I actually uploaded the first chapter.**

**I, for once, Actually DAYDREAMED the WHOLE of this story whilst on a long car journey + listening to my music. Usually, I daydream but get no-where, but, this was like a MOVIE in my head!**

**So, Here it is, feel free to R&R! **

**~Emma**

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

Emma sat in her car, looking silently out of the window. The rain is blurring her sight of the countryside around her, the looming and large green hills smudging under the intensity of the raindrops against the blackened window. Her eagerness to see the landscapes disappears and she turns her head to stare at the back of the driving seat. She reaches down and turns the volume up on her iPod a few notches. Her ears are filled with more music and she smiles as she drowns out the sound of lightning and thunder that are precariously sounding above her.

The brunette closed her eyes and let out a comfortable sigh, letting the aroma of new car smell waft over her. Her mother, father, and little sister had been out to collect their new car. Which their dad had become slightly protective over, it being new and all.

The car bumped slightly over the rough tarmac and Emma's dad cursed loudly at the fact the rain was getting heavier.

With a quick thought, the sixteen year-old sat up and called out over her music, to her mother;

"Could you drop me off at mine?"

She sees her mum nod a couple of times and point in the correct direction for her father to follow. She smiles to herself. She was _that _lucky to have a house at sixteen, if you cut out the bills and such. Her parents had hit gold on the lottery and bought her something to go to when she was older, even though she insisted in being let to stay there every now and then.

Suddenly, there is a large jolt of lightning and a rumble of thunder, causing Emma's dad to waver at the steering wheel, meaning the car bounced and Emma's earphones fell out. She cursed under her breath and fumbled around with them, in hope of putting them back into her ears.

With a jolt, something landed on the roof, and Emma's younger sister began to panic.

"Oh my god? Did we hit a bird? Or a rabbit?" Her hands shot up to her mouth, "it sounded heavy, maybe it was a deer?"

The girls dad cursed again at the thing on the roof and swung the car a couple of times, in hope of dislodging it. It was no hope and the thing continued to scramble. Her dad tried to stop, but there were a lot of cars going in both directions, it was too much of a risk.

"let me check," Emma reassured her parents and sister, letting down her window and sticking her head out into the rain. The wind and rain instantly whipping at her face and making her skin sting. She squinted through the rain and reached up onto the roof. Her throat tightened when her hadn befame enveloped in _another _hand.

She pulled back, in sheer surprise, back into the car, pulling the _thing _along with her. It fell through the open window and fell directly onto her lap, yelling out in protest.

Emma's sister screamed from the back seats of the family car, a 7 seater Vauxhall Safira.

The curly haired brunette girl fumbled around with the window controls until it was done up, and then shimmied as far back from the thing as should could, against the door. Her mouth opened ajar when she saw the _thing _was indeed a person. A person with shaggy blond hair, and an orange and blue jumpsuit. It was a _human_.

"What the _F**K_!" Her dad yelled, exchanging glances between the bewildered boy and the road ahead. Her mother covered her mouth with a shaking hand. They were getting closer to Emma's new house.

"Who the hell are you?" Emma yelled to the boy, who said the exact same thing at the same time, both looked as equally scared as the other. Emma fell silent as she noticed the whisker like scars on the boys cheeks, "... and why are you dressed as Naruto?"

"What?" The boy yelled in anger, as her father pulled into her long driveway, "What are you saying? I _am _Naruto!"

The car stopped and her father turned to stare at the boy, he recognised him from when he had passed Emma as she watched the latest episode of Naruto. He swore to himself and looked at Emma.

"Take him into your house, feed him, then kick him out," he said sternly, Emma nodded and obeyed him. Pulling the wet boy across the seats as she opened the door and got out of the car. She heard her dad swearing again at the state of the new cars' seats.

Emma slammed the door and dragged the odd looking teenager towards her front door, she opened it with a jiggle of her keys and basically threw the boy before her, slamming the door behind her and sighing as the sound of her can and the rain disappeared in an instant.

She watched wearily as the boy mumbled to himself and pulled himself to his feet, taking of his soaking jacket and tossing it aside. Much to Emmas' annoyance. He was being rude.

"Who. Are. You." Emma hissed as she remained with her back tightly pressed up against the door.

"What do you mean?" the boy said, looking up to her with gleaming blue eyes, he flashed her a toothy grin and added, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Emma swallowed hard and pushed a lock of her curly brown hair behind her ear, fear took her over as she said;

"P-Prove it."

The boy shrugged and reached for the lowed hem of his shirt, he took it in his hand casually and lifted his shirt. Emma looked away at first, but her eyes wandered down to his lightly toned stomach, a large swirling seal was plainly on his skin. She remained with her gaze on his stomach and shuffled forward slightly, not noticing her mouth hanging open slightly ajar.

"Tch," The boy huffed, "I guess I can prove to you this way, C'mon," he urged, "Feel it! It's real!"

Emma's hand slowly moved and and her fingertips grazed over his stomach. The seal didn't rub off. It was clearly _tattooed _onto his skin. Only a dedicated cos-player would do that, or unless it was _actually _Naruto. She left her hand in the middle of the seal and looked up at 'Naruto'. He had a smug grin that could only belong to him, his blue eyes flashed brightly.

_'He looks like him, acts like him, and even _sounds _like him...' _Emma contemplated, gingerly removing her hand from his stomach and folding her arms hastily. Naruto dropped his damp shirt.

"Believe me?" he urged leaning forward towards her and raising an eyebrow,

"Y-Yeah, kinda," she replied, slinking back a little in amazement. Her head was toying with the actual idea of a cartoon character coming to life.

"Awesome!" Naruto whooped, jogging and flipping over too sit on her black leather three-seater. He stretched out and closed his eyes, his hands placed behind his head.

She walked over to the sofa and peered over the back, watching him as he grinned to himself. He opened one eye and made her flinch, his grin disappeared and he hoisted himself up onto his elbows and cleared his throat.

"Your not gonna do what your pop said, are you?" He asked quietly, looking away towards the door for a moment then back to her, "Y'know, feed me then kick me out... it's still raining,"

Emma looked towards one of the large windows and took note of the weather, still bleak, still windy. Still utterly horrible.

"No," She said simply, looking back at Naruto, who was now grinning from ear to ear at the blue eyed girl as she leant on the back of the sofa.

He suddenly reach up and tool hold of her arms, pulling her so she toppled over the sofa and onto him. She gasped loudly and squirmed a little in his grip, only making him laugh a little harder.

"Your so agitated!" he giggled as Emma crawled off of him and sat herself hurriedly on the opposite end of the sofa, breathing hard, "Loosen up a little!"

Emma glared at him suddenly, making his swallow his words,

"_You,_" she said coldly, "Are a stranger I've just let into my house claiming to be a cartoon character,"

Naruto hushed and bit his lip, once again swallowing his words and he looked up to the girl,

"I'm a cartoon character? Is that why your so afraid?"

Emma clenched her teeth and looked away, before moving closer to the boy, looking him directly into the eye.

"Ermm... maybe a little bit... Your from an Animé called 'Naruto' , Ironically,"

She half expected the boy to erupt in a flurry of tears or something. Considering she probably would of if she found out she was from a T.V show. But, he didn't. His grin merely re-appeared and he moved an inch or so closer to her, their heads weren't that far apart... one slip and...

"That's awesome!" Naruto called out, leaning back and laughing, "Am I famous?"

"Pretty much,"

"Sweeeeet!" he cooed, fist pumping into the warm air excitedly, "Finally! Some _decent _recognition!"

Emma almost laughed to herself, she looked down to her hands, they were shaking. She tried to dull down the slight feeling of fan-girl excitement she got when the thought of _the _Naruto being in her house.

**-.-.-**

**Remember! For the benefit of the story, review after you read!**

**I know most of you don't and just think 'meh'**

**But you know _everyone _gets more motivated after a good few reviews!**

**R&R !**

**~EMMA**


	2. A Cabbage Butterfly

**Thanks to my lovely reviewer, I have now realised how OOC everyone is in my story ;) I'll change some things as I read over them, but if you find some or the charas out of their personality, I'm sorry.**

**It may seem a little NaruXoc, but I assure you, it isn't :P **

**Thanks for the review so far! R&R's will earn you more chapters!**

**~Emma**

"_The _Naruto?" Emma laughed, as she sipped some of her coffee. Naruto took a long swig of his hot-chocolate and nodded briskly, she was sure to give him the chocolatey substance instead of the caffeine filled drink,

"_The _one and only!" he laughed, emphasizing the word 'the' the way Emma had.

Emma smiled. It was 8am in the morning, and Naruto had slept on her three-seater sofa whilst she kept an eye on him opposite, in the two seater. They were now sitting happily on the floor discussing everyday things with each-other. Or as everyday the conversation could get.

"Honestly?" she smiled, egging the boy to get all hyper, as she loved it when he was,

"I said, The One and only!" He laughed, giving the girl a playful punch in the shoulder, she winced but laughs anyways.

"Right," Emma confirmed, placing her half-empty cup onto the coffee table next to her. The caffeine seeping into her system slowly, she changes the subject and stands up, "If you are gonna want to fit in, you'll have to change clothes!"

"Change?" Naruto questioned standing up and following her as she moved towards an airing cupboard. She dove around in the small room for a while before pulling out a box full of clean-smelling clothes.

"_These_," she informed, letting the box drop into Naruto's grasp, "are my old boyfriends clothes, that he left here," she motioned to the clothes stacked in the cardboard box as the two walked over to the coffee table, Naruto set the box down and began rooting through it, "You can choose something to wear, I'm sure they'll fit you,"

Naruto grinned and pulls out a blue T-shirt with black waves crawling from the bottom left corner and moving up the left and midway up the right side. He instantly removed his shirt, much to Emma's discomfort and pulled on the fresh one. It fit him like a sock. Next, he pulled out three-quarter length army-style shorts, and grinned at Emma as she turned away. He hastily exchanged his joggers for the shorts and said quickly;

"Tadahh!"

Emma turned around, to see a wide armed Naruto with a massive grin. He was wearing the clothes indeed, but he had no shoes and he was still wearing his Konoha headband.

She laughed and moved towards the boy, reaching up and untying the headband. She ruffled his blonde hair so it fell over his forehead evenly, then stood back and admired her work. She then blushed immensely.

"...What?" Naruto questioned, taking his headband and stuffing it into his pocket, he shook his head and turned to look at her suspiciously, the pink haze spread evenly across her cheeks as he sent her a smug grin.

"N-nothing," Emma smiled weakly, before coughing and turning to her sofa. She walked over to it and sat down, leaving Naruto to pick up his old clothes and stuff them in a corner. He then joined the girl on the sofa. Looking much more normal and easier to talk to.

After a few more minutes of talking, Naruto decided it was time to tell Emma why he thought he was in 'England', as Emma seemed to put it.

"Well," he began, worriedly scratching the back of his neck, "I remember sitting on the pier at the lake in Konoha, watching the water and thinking of nothing in general, when a huge rain-cloud appeared and it started to rain. The I felt someone _push me forwards_ and I fell into the water. Instead of sinking I kept on falling and I ended up on the roof of your metal thing,"

Emma nodded in agreement. There _was_ quite a storm ruffing up before Naruto fell onto her car.

"Yeah..." Emma said quietly, looking down and fumbling around with her necklace. She was quite a fan of a certain red-headed sand ninja, and even went as far as buying posters and a love kanji necklace, from Ebay. Her heart hammered at the thought of him, and surprisingly, his voice. The blond haired boy was seemingly doing the same to here at the very moment; she never thought he'd look so good in real life. Although, her faint crush still hung with the the Kazekage. Naruto looked at her neck quizzically before asking;

"Hey... Why do you have that necklace?" He looked up at her with a face of pure curiosity, "The same kanji as on Gaara's forehead,"

Emma tensed at the name of her cartoon-crush. And blushed a little, holding her necklace tighter,

"I guess I'm a bit of a fan of his..." she muttered, before instantly flicking her head up so her eyes met with Naruto's, "But don't tell him I said that!"

"Right, Right," Naruto said whilst rolling his eyes, "No telling,"

Emma smiled to him and nodded. The only person she wanted to know of her crush was herself. But she guessed it didn't really matter who knew as long as it wasn't Gaara.

"You wanna go for a walk or something?" Emma suggested, standing up and stretching from her place on the sofa. Naruto was quick to follow, eager too see her world from the outside of her house. He nodded and bounded after her almost like a puppy as she went to go get some shoes.

For him, she pulled out a pair of black and green trainers, handing them to him and letting him suss out how to work laces. She, herself, pulled out of the closet her favourite pair of yellow and red converses she had got on a trip to America, once.

After she had helped Naruto with his shoes, she took him by the hand and lead him out to the back of her house, excitement gathering up inside her slowly. She dragged him through her back gate and out into an extremely large, close-cropped grass, field. There were two makeshift football pitches and a play-park for kids.

The two walked down through the field casually, Naruto was looking around himself in amazement at all the trees, grass, clouds and birds. He grinned when he saw a white butterfly flutter past, brushing his nose gently.

Emma stared in bemusement at the boy. As he let go of her hand, which she forgot he was still holding, and ran past her, trying to catch the butterfly. She basically face-palmed at the sight of a sixteen year old boy running around trying to catch a small obviously-gonna-get-away butterfly.

"Naruto!" Emma called after him, chasing the boy through the field as he desperately ran after the small, probably scared, cabbage butterfly. She laughed when she saw him trip and fall flat on his face.

She jogged up to him and laughed, he groggily looked up to her and grinned. He knew it was coming to him anyway, at the speed he was chasing after that butterfly.

"Give me a hand?" He asked, giving the girl a feeble attempt of puppy-dog-eyes. She smiled and answered his question by pulling him up by his wrist. She instantly tackled him back to the ground the moment he stood up. The coffee had gotten to her.

The two laughed and rolled around in the grass, throwing odd punches at each-other. Naruto yelled out when she pinched him playfully on the arm. He pulled away from her suddenly and rolled onto his back, she copied him and lay beside him. Still giggling.

Naruto turned his head to face her and smiled, she smiled back, completely forgetting her doubts of him being a total and utter stranger.

"Are we friends?" he asked, voice clearly out of breath, he breathed deeply, his reply was a faint smile and some batting of the eyelashes,

"Good friends," Emma said quietly. Crossing her arms and legs as if she was sitting on a chair or something. Naruto copied her and they both laughed a little longer, better to make it last than have it at a dead stop. Their laughing stopped when something loomed over them. At first Emma thought it was a cloud covering the sun, but she saw the sun was still blazing, something, or some_one _was just standing in-front of it.

"Whoa!" Naruto called out, "Gaara?"

Emma's heart froze.

–

**DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN !**

**=O_o=**

**HOW THE HELL IS Emma GOING TO REACT!**

**Stay tuned too find out!**

…

**once again, sorry of OCCness!**

**~Emma**


	3. Siblings

The sand siblings looked as baffled as Naruto and Emma were to see them.

"Naruto!" Kankuro and Temari said in unison, obviously relieved to see the other ninja. Temari tilted her head to the side and said, "What are you wearing? And where is your headband?"

Naruto sent his shy friend an odd look before turning back to the siblings and saying half-confidently,

"You, are in England," Naruto begins, "I'm not quite sure where it is, but it's _veeeeery _far away from Konoha, or Suna,"

Gaara stared at the blond curiously, mainly as to why he was dressed so oddly, but also to why there was a shivering girl cowering behind him. Naruto noticed him looking past him in a weird manner, and then remembered his brunette friend.

"This," he took Emma gently by the arm and swung her round so she stood next to him, he rested his arm on her shoulder, "This is Emma, she taught me how to blend in and gave me a place to stay the night!" he punched her gingerly on the arm, "She's awesome,"

"She's _hot_," Kankuro quietly corrected, folding his arms and smirking at the girl. Temari sighed and hit him over the back of the head, she apologised silently to Emma and then smacked Kankuro again, "Oww!" Kankuro growled, sending his sister a dirty look, "Why do you always do that..."

"Because you're a perv," Temari hissed into his ear, before shrugging him away and looking at Emma sweetly, "Hi! I'm Temari!"

"Hello," Emma said shyly. Mainly because she was standing right in-front of a silent, Gaara.

Gaara looked at the girl dismally. His faint emotions coolly being submerged behind his ever-so-obvious poker face. His eyes scanned and probed her own until he caught sight of the necklace she was twiddling between her fingers, by her neck. His eyes widened when he saw the same kanji he had branded onto his forehead. His mildly surprised expression was caught by the girl and she bit her lip, instantly bringing her hand down and stuffing it into her jackets' pocket. Trying to draw the attention elsewhere.

"Any idea how you guys got here?" Naruto asked, starting up a conversation as Emma hung her head down so her eyes didn't make contact with Gaara's sea-foam own. She could tell he was still absent-mindedly staring at her. His face still and passive.

"Not really, But there was a storm," Kankuro said, "Which is _too _odd for Suna,"

"Yeah... same here, before I came," Naruto said quietly, still letting his arm hang loosely around Emmas' neck and shoulder.

"Emma," he carries on, "says we are from a T.V show called 'Naruto' , heh, and that we're just cartoon characters, we aren't real," he motioned around himself with one arm, "This, is apparently, the real world,"

Temari and Kankuro exchanged worried glances. They then looked down to Gaara who was _still _staring. His calm eyes scanning Emmas' frail body for signs of a reason she had that necklace.

Emma piped up with some decent information to the siblings ears;

"So you guys can fit into... my world, I have lots of spare clothes and stuff back at my house. Naruto borrowed some and so could Kankuro and Gaara. They'd probably fit into them easily. Temari could probably borrow some of my stuff," she turned her attention to the older girl with a smile, she received one back,

"That's so nice of you!" Temari squealed, thinking of the new clothes she could gain,

Emma nodded to the group, and her and Naruto lead them back to her house. Naruto's arm was still draped over her shoulder, he was lightly flicking her shoulder every now and then. Gaara unfolded his arms and began to follow them, confusedly trying to figure out to himself why she had the necklace. He came up with nothing.

When they arrived at Emmas' home, she left the male siblings to look through the box of fresh clothes, and lead Temari up to her room. Where she let Temari browse freely through her clothes drawers.

After a few minutes, Temari removed some down-to-the-knee Jean shorts and a long flowing white top. Emma also let her borrow a necklace of hers, a surfer one.

The older, blond haired girl seemed extremely happy with her new look, and continued to sort out her hair whilst Emma let her eyes trail up to a poster of Gaara on her wall.

_'Shit' _she suddenly thought, _'I hope Temari doesn't see-'_

"Oh my god, why do you have a _poster _of _Gaara _in your room!" Temari then hissed, as if on cue, turning her attention away from preening her hair, Emma looked around gingerly but eventually said;

"Umm, He's kinda my favourite character from, Y'know, _Naruto_."

Temari grinned slyly and leant close to the girl, inspecting her necklace,

"_And _you have his kanji on a necklace! Man, your obsessed!" She joked, "You do know he's going to notice that, right?"

Emma nodded,

"Don't worry," Temari whispered, "I won't tell Gaara you have a crush on him,"

Emma's cheeks instantly deepened a few shades of red and she swallowed worriedly. Great, another person knew of her crush, and it happened to be one of _the _sand-siblings.

"Don't worry," Temari giggled, "I won't tell him, it's our little secret!"

Emma sighed a little and looked up to the smiling girl with a grin. She'd better keep her word.

The two girls made their way downstairs to see both Gaara and Kankuro in a fresh set of clothes. To Emma's surprise, Kankuro was wearing a black Hoody, with the hood up, and black skinny jeans, with no shoes. His face paint was gone also, he looked remarkably like Gaara.

Gaara, on the other hand, was wearing a plain white t-shirt with plain blue jeans. It looked odd too see him in different clothing, but it suited him too. Emma giggled to herself when she noticed the shirt was a little too skin-tight for the boy. For some reason he still wore it. There must have been nothing else that caught his fancy.

The three siblings all sat together on the three-seater, Temari in the middle, Gaara on the right, Kankuro on the left. Opposite them sat Emma and Naruto on the two-seater.

Kankuro and Temari were discussing their new 'looks', whilst Naruto sheepishly looked at Emma and she looked back just as bashfully. Gaara remained in silence and stared at Emma's necklace, still. After a few moments they all fell silent when some lightning flashed and lit the already-rather-dark house. Emma nearly jumped, and Naruto laughed at her whilst she hit him in embarrassment.

She forgot about the thunder that followed.

It boomed and rumbled deeply, almost threatening to crumble the fairly new house. Emma jumped up and basically out of her skin. She clung onto Naruto's sleeve and automatically buried her face into his chest. Making him laugh even more at how embarrassed she should have been. He patted her lightly on the head and chuckled;

"You're a bit of a wimp, Emma,"

"I don't like thunder," she automatically replied form deep in Naruto's shirt. She pulled away form him only when the rumbling became faint and hardly recognisable.

Gaara watched as the girl laughed and pulled herself away from naruto. She was blushing and her eyes were glazed over with tears. Happy tears? He mused himself about how one person can be happy and sad at once, and maybe even embarrassed at the same time. He was barely any of those things, so it seemed odd for them to be displayed before him all at once. He was the tiniest bit jealous of the Blond haired boy, and watched as he affectionately ruffled her hair and flicked her on the nose. To his annoyance. Who would want to be flicked on the nose?


	4. The signs of infection

There was a brisk knock at Emma's door, which surprised her considerably, as it was very late at night. She and Naruto both went to go inspect who was at the door, their faces equally confused.

To their complete and utter amazement, they open the door to find both Sasuke and Sakura, Soaking wet and in need of fresh clothes. Naruto greeted them awkwardly and let them inside.

When the two team-seven characters walked into Emma's warm front room, their mouths dropped. They were hardly surprised to find _other _people from their world happily talking amongst each-other.

Ignoring the looks both new teens had, Emma took Sakura by the hand and lead her upstairs, and introduced her to her wardrobe. Sakura looked at Emma curiously, but beamed when she found the perfect outfit. A corset-style laced shirt with blouse-sleeves and skinny jeans.

"What's that..." Sakura says, pointing to Emma's necklace, "...Hey... why do you have Gaara's love kanji around your neck?"

Emma nearly face-palmed, another person eager to hear the short story?

With a huff, Emma hastily removed the necklace and set it down onto her desk,

"It's nothing,"

Sakura raises a pink eyebrow; "Nothing?"

"Okay, al-right. It might either be a coincidence, _or _that I'm a bit of a Gaara fan..."

Sakura basically squealed when she heard that Emma had a crush on the calm and complexed Gaara, and promised she'd keep it a secret. Which Emma found hard to believe. A person like _Sakura _holding a secret? Sure. Emma braced herself for the truth when it was probably going to hit her in a few hours time, after Sakura told _everyone_.

After then explaining why Sakura was in their world, she lead the pink haired shinobi downstairs and stared at the rest of the group. They were all gathered around her speakers and beloved iPod, Poking it like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey!" Emma called out suddenly, catching everyone's attention. She briskly walked into the middle of the group and guarded her iPod, "Be careful with this,"

From where she stood, Gaara had a good view of her neck, and was surprised to find it was missing the Ai necklace. Had she dropped it? Or taken it off? … did that mean she knew he was staring at it? He was slightly disappointed and stared at her eyes longingly. Why was she no longer wearing it?

Emma noticed Gaara's passive face and sent him a grin, he flinched slightly.

She ignored his movements and decided quickly to show the whole group the iPod. She fiddled around for a moment with the device until she found the right track, which she thought would get everyone's attention. The song _'Dirty picture by Ke$ha and Taio Cruz' _started playing and caught everyone off guard. They looked around them in amazement, trying to find the source of the sound.

Emma laughed to herself and picked a song that would probably tend to Sasuke's and most likely Gaara's darker senses. She plays _'Let it die by ThreeDaysGrace' _. She almost giggled out loud when she saw Sasuke perk up immediately, obviously more fond of this choice of music. Emma decided to leave the ninja to play some other music while she went to go get an apple or something. She just wanted to get out of being centre of attention.

When Emma entered the slightly small kitchen, she hoped silently that no-one followed her, as there wasn't much room in her kitchen, and she didn't want to have to be at close quarters with anyone.

She began to search her fruit bowl for a ripe looking apple when somebody cleared their throat behind her. She turned suddenly to see Gaara who was looking at her in confinement, she blushed a little and tried her best to remain confident and calm. Her favourite Naruto character, who she has a semi-crush on was standing right before her. He was basically on top of her in the small kitchen.

Gaara opened his mouth to say something, but was instantly stopped when the music was turned up to full volume, and Emma recognised the song '_T__he club is alive with the sound of music by JLS' _she almost laughed at the ninjas choice of song, but she held the feeling back when she saw Gaara cringing at the loud noise.

Becoming a little defensive, Emma turned and screamed for someone to turn it down, Temari stared at her with wide eyes, and turned the music down considerably. Emma turned back to face Gaara, only to catch him with the beginnings of a soft smile across his lips. Emma's grin disappeared when Gaara lifts up her kanji necklace and holds it plainly in-front of her face.

"What the.." She hissed, staring at the shiny silver pendant, "Did you go into my room?"

Unaware of her own harshness, she looked back to Gaara, only to see his face a little hurt. But anyway, he moves it forward a little and ordered;

"Wear it. It suits you."

A little shakily, she took the necklace and and wrapped the thin silver chain around her neck. She struggled to do the clasp up and asked Gaara to do it, much to her own dismay.

Gaara clipped the necklace together and Emma turned to face him with a blushing-yet-sort-of-smug look.

"Happy?" she said, her voice a little croaky for some unknown reason. His hands had repeatedly touched her and he didn't even seem to care.

Gaara opened his mouth to ask why she was blushing, but the sound of slapping stops her from hearing and she rushes out of the kitchen to stop naruto from destroying her also beloved Xbox360. She patted the side of it tenderly and turned to Naruto with an almost vicious look,

"The Xbox doesn't play music," she said coolly, setting the white box down gently and leaving it be.

Deciding to change the subject, she turned down the music a little more and said to everyone;

"Who wants hot chocolate?"

Everyone nodded eagerly, even Sasuke. Emma motioned for everyone, including Gaara, to sit on the sofa's or the floor whilst she went to make the drinks.

A few minutes later, Emma came back out with a tray of hot chocolates, everyone took one and started to sip at them. Emma noticed how put off Gaara looked to the fact Emma didn't get a chance to answer his question. But yet, he drank his drink considerably quick, concluding to Emma that he probably liked chocolate.

Her and Naruto were on the two seater again, whilst Gaara, Temari and Sakura, in that order, were sitting on the three-seater. Kankuro and Sasuke were happily sitting at Emma and Naruto's feet.

"You guys can all stay here tonight, if you want," Emma suggested after a while of drinking in silence, save the fact the music was playing in the background, "The guys could sleep on the sofa's and the girls in my room,"

"That's an awesome idea!" Naruto piped up, putting his cup back onto the tray,

"Yeah!" Sakura chimed, "We could have a girly sleep-over!"

Everyone smiled and discussed sleepover ideas amongst themselves.

A few hours later everyone, save Gaara, who was being rather unsociable, were laughing and talking. Gaara's stable attention was fixed on Emma and Naruto.

Emma was poking Naruto, to which he replied with tickling her. Emma laughed almost uncontrollably and punches him in the side, before tickling him also, he doesn't laugh half as much as she did, but still laughs. Naruto grabbed her and made her topple over on top of him. Gaara felt a little hurt at the sight of a girl on another guy's lap, but ignores the odd, foreign feeling. Emma sat up, still laughing, and wipes away her tears.

Suddenly, she started coughing, whilst giggling. Her stomach tensed and she was forced to take a swig of what left of her drink. Yet her throat still burned, as did her stomach, and then her chest. Although she was giggling still, Gaara could see the pain coursing through her face every now and then. Whatever was going on inside her body wasn't good, and made her laugh in pain.

To everyone's horror. She stopped laughing, and a dribble of blood appeared from the corner of her mouth. She licked it away but it is replaced with more of the crimson liquid. She was no longer laughing.


	5. Paracetamol

**Thanks for the reviews, guys ;)**

That night, Emma couldn't sleep. Her head and chest were continuously throbbing and she was forced to get up and go find some way of making it feel better. She swung her legs forcefully around to the lip of her bed, every movement made her joints and appendages feel more and more achy or rusty. She felt too odd for just a stomach ache... and chest ache... and headache.

Her feet silently padded down her wooden stairs, and she snuck past all the dozing guys in the living room. Her eyes were set directly on a cupboard in her kitchen that concealed lots of medicines, it was like a first aid kit stuck to a wall. Preferably the paracetamol that she was after was there, she wasn't entirely sure whether she had any. She reached up to the desired cupboard and cursed to herself when she realised she couldn't reach it. She growled and pondered a little about why the previous owners of the house had such high cupboards, were they really tall?

Suddenly, she felt hands gripping her waist and hoisting her up towards the cupboard. Emma hastily grabbed the paracetamol, and sat down on the kitchen side. She turned to meet her helper, half wanting it to be Gaara, although she knew what he was like about touching people. But to her luck, it wasn't.

Naruto's face looked concerned, and he folded his arms in worry,

"What's wrong," he whispered, moving to gently brush a wisp of Emma's hair back behind her ear.

"I don't know," she says quietly, "I just don't feel right." Naruto took her by the chin and raised her head so they could meet eye-to-eye,

"Don't be sad, please. I hate seeing you upset," he said quietly,

Emma's eyes suddenly flicked to some movement in the doorway, and she was surprised to see Gaara standing there. His eyes widened when he noticed how close she was against Naruto from where she sat on the worktop. Naruto's hand was still around her waist, and he had one other cradling her face.

Naruto settled her down onto the floor, although she protested a little. Emma took a couple of the tablets with a swig of water. The hastily tucked the small container to the side, behind a toaster, in case she needed them again, which she felt she would.

"Get better soon," Naruto hushed as he walked away, briskly smiling at Gaara as he passed him in the doorway.

Gaara walked in quietly through the doorway, aware of all the other sleepers. He stood and watched her curly hair fall over shoulders and she stared at the ground and oddly digested her tablets. He approached her slowly with a hand raised, hoping to grab her attention.

"Hello, Gaara," she said quietly, looking up weakly at the sand shinobi,

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked with concern in his voice.

Emma was surprised. Since when did Gaara care about other peoples feelings? Her heart twisted awkwardly as she went out to the boy, he was seriously trying to make her feel better. The emotion of dread silently overcame her when she thought about the fact someone might of told him about her 'crush'. She cleared her throat and answered him, aware he was still waiting for it;

"A little groggy. I should... I should go back to bed,"

Emma smiled weakly and suddenly moved to get past him, out of the kitchen. He grabbed her quickly by the arm and stopped her from going any further. Emma looked back at the red-head worriedly. What was he thinking now? She bit her lip as she cringed at the feeling of his hand holding her arm, and plus he was squeezing it pretty tight.

"Seriously?" Gaara pondered, glaring a little without knowing at the shivering girl,

She nodded worriedly, and took a deep breath. Gaara instantly realised how scared she was that he had grabbed her. The only person she seemed to let be near and touch her generally is Naruto. She was always more happy around him. It was like he just made everyone happier with a click of the fingers, like he had way back with the fight against his Shukaku, with Gamabunta.

Gaara looked away, and let go of Emma's arm. She instantly withdrew further and said under her breath a little harshly,

"Yes Gaara... I'm fine,"

Not allowing him to say anything else, Emma moved further away and headed back to her bed. She could feel her world turning with every blink, she was _that _tired. Her eyes welled up a little at the though of the harshness in her voice, and that she had left him hanging in the kitchen, on the end of a sentence. She rushed back to her room to avoid any further embarrassment.

**Remember: R&R MAKES THE STORY GO FAR :)**


	6. Down to the feilds

**Lol im so sillay :) I uploaded two chapters at ONCE! :D**

It was early the next morning and the sun was shining. It blazed down and lit up the grassy fields perfectly, illuminating nearly every blade of grass and every tree as far as the eye could see. That's one reason Emma loved her house in the country; the views.

"Right guys," Emma smiled, feeling much better than her previous state, "I'm guessing- and hoping -You all know how to play football?"

Naruto's face brightened from her left and he looked at her with a grin,

"Do _we _know how to play _football?_" He mused, looking at her sarcastically, "Obviously!"

A little surprised at the blond's knowledge of football, she handed him the newish, well-inflated blue and black football and watched him as he and the other male shinobi, save Gaara, all ran down the gentle slope to a football pitch on a square of flat land, there were also swings, a roundabout and a slide to the left of the pitch.

Emma turned suspiciously to the others behind her, noticing Gaara had not joined the other guys, she cocked a eyebrow when he caught her gaze.

"Don't you like football?" She asked,

"Hn," He replied, looking away steadily and folding his arms across his chest. His gaze was icily pouring out over Naruto and the other guys.

"Whatever," she mumbled back as she, Temari and Sakura all ran down to the pitches' edge and sat down, to watch the boys play.

For quite a while, Emma watched quietly as Sakura and Temari whooped for their siblings and friends as they tackled each-other amidst their relatively small football spar. It was obvious as it wasn't a real game, have _you _ever heard of a game with only three players?

Soon, she was quick to realise Gaara was actually sitting down beside her, or at least a good metre or so to her right. Her breath steadied automatically as she fought down a bizarre and sudden cough. She brought her knees up too conceal her quaking chest and continued to watch the game, aware Gaara was in-fact stealing odd glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking at all.

Suddenly, her stomach clenched and she was forced to rest her head onto her knees, and begin humming. She knew no-one could hear, as Temari and Sakura were cheering pretty loudly.

"Oh man..." She groaned, as she felt some of the cool, metallic tasting liquid seep through her spit glands and also up through her throat. The red liquid escaped through her lips, although she made no move to wipe it away.

Instead, the brunette raised her head up from her knees and stared blankly at the grass in-front of her; she took note of a small ladybird and started counting it's spots.

She didn't care that her skin was paling and her eyes were becoming blood-shot. She didn't care that her only attempt at covering her illness was with a fake smile. She knew the others were worried for her, but she was 16 and could care for herself.

Emma moved to wipe a glossy eye when she noticed Gaara staring at her completely. He didn't seem too care that she knew, and was focused completely on her mouth.

"You were lying," He coldly stated, flicking his aqua eyes up too meet her bleak, blue own.

"...so..." Emma said looking away from the redhead, back to the game, "...There's no reason for you to be concerned,"

Gaara almost laughed, but subsided the feeling;

"You think I'm concerned?"

She made no response.

"One things for sure," Emma said finally, "I don't know what's wrong with me and painkillers don't fix it,"

"Well, They _are_ only meant for relieving pain, not to get rid-"

"-I know what I meant!" Emma hissed, but instantly withdrew her temper and calmly looked up to the pale faced boy, "What's wrong with me, Gaara,"

To be quite honest, he didn't know, and it wasn't the right kind of situation to just go about making solutions up. So instead, he shrugged.

"Thanks," She remarked, looking at him coolly, "Maybe, just being around people from an alternate universe does things to a body,"

She laughed coldly, but the whimper died down when she realised how scarily true her assumptions could be. She didn't want to think of what could happen to her with another week of being with these people, but she liked them and didn't want too push them aside like nothing.

"It's like I'm dissolving from the inside," She added wearily, keeping her eyes locked onto Gaara's still own. He listened quietly and awaited for anything she might of added. She didn't.

He watched her, bemused, as she continued to wallow in her self-esteem and sighed before laying back and staring at the now smouldering grey clouds. Her arms stretched up and she leant her head against her palms. She was going to soak up as much as the lasting sun there was, she knew full well that England was obviously notorious to break out in rain at any time, not that they knew that.

After a few minutes of staring upwards and listening too the other girls chants and the boys shouting as they continued to have a kick-around, Emma felt the grass beside her shift slightly. She ignored the fact Gaara had moved up beside her and was also laying down in the grass.

The boy watched, slightly amazed at the girl, as she moved a pale hand up to her neck and took hold of her necklace, tightly gripping it in her palm. He was almost bemused as he took note of the minute smile she held against her lips. She was very beautiful.

Almost as if on cue, and almost making him flinch, she turned her head slowly to face him, she was still smiling, her complexion looking much more relaxed, despite the blood still on her chin. She noticed he wasn't exactly paying attention and had seemed to of gone off in a trance of some sort.

Emma cleared her throat, although she was quick to regret it when some blood was forced into her mouth. Awkwardly, she swallowed it back and watched with a sly smirk as Gaara's eyes widened when he realised he _had_ been staring.

_'Why have I been trying to avoid him,' _Emma thought quietly as she giggled at Gaara's slightly embarrassed face, _'Nearly everyone knows he's my crush. I think the only one who doesn't know it is me.'_

She turned her head skyward and stared blankly at the clouds as they now covered the sky. Rain began spitting down, and she almost laughed when she heard Naruto groaning in annoyance at the sky.

"What is happening to me," She asked rhetorically, "...I know you guys are going to be the death of me."

_'Great,' _she then thought, _'Now I sound like a granny,'_

Yet, once again, Emma had scared herself witless at her choice of word's.

With a short clearance of the throat, Gaara abruptly sat up and said casually, yet hastily;

"We should leave,"

"What?" A separate voice chirped, it was Sakura, she must of heard what Gaara said,

"But I like It here," Temari added, she must of heard too, "Nothings wrong with a spot of rain, it's still sunny,"

Gaara ignored his older sisters ranting as his eyes flickered down to Emma as she struggled slightly at lifting herself from a slouching sitting position. She managed to stand up, eventually, and solemnly stared down at the three other teenagers, her eyes were sunken and red, her skin was a deathly pale, and her lips were trembling whilst turning a fresh shade of purple and blue.

Temari gasped, she was completely unaware of the abrupt changes Emma's body had gone through. Something was definitely wrong with the girl.

"I think the more we are around her," Gaara concluded with a little untraceable sorrow, "the more it gets to her," he held his breath before whispering mostly to himself, "dying from the inside?" his statement seemed to be more of a question than a conclusion.

The other animé boys had stopped playing football. They were fully aware and partly disappointed that no-one was cheering them any-more, plus it was raining, and the game was going nowhere. So they left the ball on the pitch and ran to join the small group of people. Naruto was quick to notice the slouching and pale girl. The rain against her soft skin made her look even more ill. Thankfully, he couldn't see the fresh blood, as the rain had washed it away.

Much to his own surprise, Gaara cringed inside when Naruto took a long and unsteady glare at the girl. His was doubting to himself that Emma would let something like this go untreated. Gaara added something for the people who had just joined thems' benefit,

"The more she's around us, the more it's likely that she... she might die,"

Emma's weak face screwed up in anger, she didn't want to accept _that _sentence being the only diagnosis for her illness. She could have a bad case of the flu, or an odd fever... or just a really bad stomach ache. She'd probably get better soon, there was nothing to worry about. Right?

Naruto shot to Emma's side and placed a hand at the base of her back as if to steady her in advance,

"Is this true," He whispered half-heartedly, yet with the full intent of receiving an answer. His eyes grazed at her own.

She merely shrugged.

With no other words being spoken, Gaara instinctively stood up and grabbed the weakening Emma bridal style. The whole group walked in solemn silence back to Emma's house. The on-pour of rain making them strain their eyes in angst. Gaara's however, were plainly wide open as if it were any other day, he didn't seem phased by the dreaded English weather.

They left the black and blue football to smoulder and sink into some of the fresh mud caused from running around in the rain. It sat perfectly in the middle of the pitch, waiting for someone to find it.

The whole group were all murmuring amongst themselves, and Gaara moved slowly to rest the girl down onto the leather sofa. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed comfortably.

Naruto then instantly ran to her side and rested a hand on her cheek,

"Stay awake," he egged, not wanting her to fall asleep, even if she was genuinely tired. He wanted to here her voice.

Her eyes open, but she looks straight past Naruto, and her eyes settle on the redhead she knows is standing behind him,

"Gaara," She croaks, raising her frail arms to remove her necklace, and as Gaara arrives to her side, she holds it out to him, "Take it,"

The boy bowed his head, staring at the necklace she had placed into his damp hand. The silver metal was dripping wet. He lifted his head and opened his mouth to protest, when Emma spoke up again.

"I'm too tired for this, guys... we should all sleep now," she yawned painfully, exposing her clearly blood bleached tongue and teeth. Gaara swallowed his worry.

Temari pushes in beside her and rests a hand on her forehead. She is steamed up and boiling, yet, when Temari moved her hand onto her cheek, it was icy cold.

"You should stay in your parents room," Temari suggested quietly, "Free from... us,"

Although everyone was pained and quiet, they nodded in total agreement.

X X X

Emma lay, quivering, on the right side of her mother and fathers silk laid bed. She continuously wiped at her tears, trying to get them to subside. They never did, and eventually she gave up and let them drip slowly onto her pillow, and dribble onto the tip of her nose.

She got a once-in-a-lifetime chance too meet people from a parallel universe, and it only ended up killing her. She closed her eyes and sighed shakily, she knew what was going to happen. Every second that ticked by seemed like an hour, and in that every elongated second, she could feel her health deteriorating.

In sudden pain, she clutched her stomach from under her covers and groaned quietly. But, suddenly she freezes when the sound of men talking started. It was from the kitchen below her. Her ears strained weakly, and she swallowed another handful of blood that is forced up her throat. She couldn't stop the minor flow that managed to as-always dribble down her chin. Each crimson drop landed onto the mattress, leaving a small yet spreading patch of blood, which somehow she'd have to explain to her parents.

_'What if I don't survive at all,' _she thought, as the idea of dying struck her instantly, _'I'm never gonna see them again, both the characters... and my family,' _her eyes stung more as they welled up, and the space behind her eyes tightened as she closed them. She was probably never going to see her family again.

**R&R Means more chapters! ~_^**


	7. Discussing what to do

Gaara, and Naruto, were in Emma's kitchen, having a discussion.

"She's going to die if we stay here," Gaara told his old friend with a dismal expression plastered across his face;

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "But if we leave now, She's never going too see us again,"

Naruto was upset about the whole ordeal. Who would of known that such things could happen to a bubbly girl like her, and surely, as naruto concluded, she was strong-willed enough to fight whatever was killing her.

"Well..."

Something similar to an idea struck Naruto, and his face lit up slightly, blue eyes ablaze. He almost frightened the red-headed boy with his enthusiasm.

"I know!" he grinned, "When we are back in our world, we'd be seen by her if she carries on watching our Anime!" he rubbed the back of his head and leant casually against the counter, "we should make it known to her that we remember her by doing something she could recognise,"

The two teenagers stand in silence for a few moments. Both thinking deeply of a way at getting the girls attention. Gaara thinking about more of how much of a good idea it was, and coming from Naruto himself. Yet, They both wanted to eagerly prove to her that this was most definitely not a dream, and that she had reason to believe it was all real.

Gaara raised Emma's necklace without emotion, he was still clasping it into the hand she had pressed it into.

"Yeah!" Naruto says in a hushed tone, obviously self-reminded of the girl who he though was asleep upstairs. What he didn't know was that she was attempting to listen from the confinement of her covers, even though she now was blocked from the conversation by hushed voices, "That would work. You keep hold of it and do something that she'd see. Like... put it in a box, I don't know,"

Gaara nodded slowly and pocketed the necklace.

The two boys remained silent for a good few minutes, until Naruto looked up at the kazekage and said with sorrow;

"Someone has to go up there and say goodbye," he whispered, eyes looking bleak.

"yes..." Gaara looked to Naruto with a slight tinge of hope.

Naruto looked a little bashful, but said confusedly,

"Me? No way Gaara, she's much more into y-" He stopped himself with a slap to his mouth with a quivering hand.

"No, carry on," Gaara inquisitively ordered, pushing the boy for an answer.

"Sh-She's much more... into you, Gaara," Naruto said calmly, he was glad to get the minor secret off of his chest, he looked at Gaara with a little hope and grinned, "You go up there and comfort her, and we'll get something sorted for a -I don't know- going away present?" he smirked to himself as his head filled with some ideas, "so she doesn't forget,"

"C-Comfort her?" Gaara said in a monotone voice, although highly unaware that Naruto was eager for him to make the first move. How was he meant to comfort a girl he wasn't sure if he liked? And now he had been told that she liked _him_, which was a first for anyone in particular, how was he meant to react? He didn't know how to comfort, but had seen before, other people 'comforting' their friends and family. Specially when he was around.

He nodded worriedly, putting a hand into his Jean pocket and letting the necklace slip into it's grasp.

He didn't think Emma would have feelings towards him like that, and he barely thought of her in the same way. He merely found her, interesting. A somewhat of a 'joy' to watch, and was it so bad to like it when she was in pain, yet feel something at the same time? Gaara was unsure of the answer.

"Well?" Naruto then urged, knocking Gaara out of his thoughts, "Go get 'er tiger!" He patted the confused red-head on the back, unaware he didn't know what that particular phrase meant. He grinned and watched as Gaara left the kitchen and padded quietly up the stairs.

With a confident face, Naruto moved back into the living room and greeted the others. They all looked up at him hopefully when they saw Gaara moving slowly up the last of the stairs.

"Wow.." Sasuke smirked, "You actually got him to go,"

"Shut up," Naruto spat back, "It wasn't that hard,"

"Oh?" Sasuke smirked, folding his arms and lounging back on the black leather sofa, "And you've had experience?"

"What?" Naruto's face dropped, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto nearly leapt at the chuckling Uchiha, but was held back by Sakura, who protectively placed a hand against his chest. She was protecting Naruto from himself, more than Sasuke. She smiled when Naruto looked down at her with a cute looking yet confused face,

"Be quiet, baka," She smiled, letting her hand slip free of his chest, although she was reluctant.

Naruto smiled and nodded, before turning to go back to the kitchen for some fruit. But he didn't let his cold glare slip past him, and shot Sasuke a stare worthy of the previous sand Jinchuuriki himself.

Meanwhile, Gaara, had reached the landing, and was standing, frozen to the spot, outside Emma's Parents' room.


	8. On the cheek

_'He's coming' _Emma thought worriedly, bringing her silk quilt up to her chest and staring absent-mindedly at the floor-to-ceiling mirrors that crossed as a wardrobe, opposite her.

There were a few gentle knocks at the door, and she bit her lip. She stared at her reflection in amazement from under the confinement of her covers, she looked, wide-eyed, as Gaara's reflection entered the room, and closed the door behind him.

Quickly, she let her eyelids shut and she pretended to be asleep, she hushed her body, forcing it to relax.

Gaara walked silently to her side of the double bed. His blank, expressionless face and flickering eyes scanning her still body as she 'slept'. Lucky for him, he didn't know whether she was asleep or not, as the Shukaku was fresh from the extraction and he was still new to the idea's of sleep. He didn't know what was faking and what wasn't.

He sat down slowly beside her, watching as her chest rose and fell with shuddery breaths. Her fingers twitched responsively as he bent closer to his face. Inspecting her still face as she continued to 'sleep'.

She was in an odd heaven. She could feel Gaara of the sands' hot breath tickling at her neck and ear. She knew he was here to wake her, but he wasn't doing it. Although it was for the best, he didn't want to stoop low enough as to wake her from a somewhat peaceful slumber.

He moved away from her face, much to her relief, as she thought she was going to explode, and stared blankly at her hand. It was still, not twitching as it was before. Emma was nearly driven to holding her breath as she knew the Kazekage was scanning her with his eyes, she felt so weary of him being so close.

Then, Gaara did something he never expected himself to do, period. He moved his hand slowly forward and intertwined his fingers with hers. She was careful to not act as if she was holding his hand back, she had to let the appendage fall limp in his grasp. Emma took a deep, shuddering breath as her TV-crush held her hand and began to stroke the back of it with the pad of his thumb.

He continued to watch her, and Emma felt herself drifting in the clutches of sleep, or something along those lines. She clenched her teeth and forced herself to try to stay awake. Even if the idea of him holding her hand as she really _did _sleep was so alluring.

Desperately, she wanted to open her eyes and look at the boy who was once again leaning over her. She could feel the base of his back against her stomach as he sat close to her on the bed. Gaara took a deep breath and leant close to her ear, before letting out the breath and pressing his warm, soft lips against her cool cheek.

After a half a minute or so, he removed himself hastily and let go of her hand, much to her own dismay.

"Goodbye," He whispered in a hushed tone.

The word got her immediate attention, and he peeled himself from her bed and strode back towards the bedroom door, keeping a silent eye on her reflection. His heart pounded in his chest and his pulse throbbed in the back of his ears. If Shukaku was there, he would be hollering to finish her pain.

Emma tightened her eyes as he reeled back through the door frame. He was about to shut the door, when out of instinct, she flicked open her eyes, wide. And stared nonchalantly at his reflection. He stood and stared at her with one eye through the few inches of crack in the door. Before gripping the brass handle firmly and pulling the door closed. It slammed a little.

For a mere few moments, he contemplated on whether going back in to see her was a good idea or not, but he ended up going with his head over his heart, which he was still to uncover, and turning on his heel.

Emma, back in her room, was practically streaming with tears.

_'I should of 'woke up' earlier," _she thought dismally, as she closed her eyes truthfully and actually attempted to go to sleep. But she couldn't. The mere though of Gaara genuinely kissing her made her want to shudder in anticipation, and squeal with joy at the same time. She only had enough energy to shudder, so she went with the first option.

**I swear these chapters are getting shorter and shorter .**

**Sorry!**

**I hate waiting for reviews, it used to be a favourite past-time of mine, but now I just loving having people read my stories, so here are the next to chapters!**

**~Emma**


	9. Check again

Emma rolled over groggily and stared at the ceiling. She could feel her life tugging away at it's connection to her, and her self esteem was slightly ebbing away at the though of Gaara kissing her cheek and holding her hand.

She closed her eyes, letting her breath hitch uncontrollably in her throat.

_'I should go get him,' _She thought, _'I need to tell him that it's okay, he doesn't have to leave. I'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with a bad cough, right? I don't understand...' _she sighed heavily, _'I was fine with just Naruto... maybe one doesn't affect me... maybe there were just _too _many people?'_

She let her thoughts trail away and she opened her eyes. She stared at the master bedrooms' door, begging to herself for him to come back, striding in the doorway and scooping her off her feet. Or back. But, once again, she knew what Gaara was like, and that wasn't it, despite his odd behaviours.

A tear trailed down her face and she felt her cheeks burn hot with sadness and remorse.

She closed her eyes again and rolled to face the other side of the bed. Her lower lip trembled slightly and she buried her head deep into her pillow. She was being weak, but she couldn't help it. She opened her only available eye, as the other was hidden by the pillow, and stared forward.

Emma nearly exploded from sheer surprise when she saw the still, passive face and body of Gaara, laying opposite her. He looked as surprised to see her reaction as she did to see him. He looked at her intently with his large, sea-foam eyes.

"G-Gaara..." she whispered weakly, slightly scared at the boys presence, but nevertheless moving her hand forward inch by inch to meet his, which was plainly set upon the sheets. He was laying on-top of them opposed to under them. Just as her fingertips grazed his, his hand shot back to his chest, and hers did the same. It was like he electrocuted her or something.

She groped at her throat for her only item that gave her the sense of security, her necklace. But was highly disappointed when she remembered she gave it too... the boy laying opposite her.

"Why are you-" She began, but was startled to find Gaara's pulled back hand reaching out towards her face, his eyes full of concern, and his brow furrowed ever-so-slightly. Gently, he wiped away her tears that still carry on flowing. He brought his hand back to his chest and remained still. It was quite creepy.

She was utterly horrified. Not at the fact he just touched her face, but at the fact he was watching her cry, seeing her sorrow, and feeling her pain. He could see her weakness, just like he saw through her fake smiles. He knew she was dying without a doubt, and he wanted to make up for his actions. He knew he was arrogant, snobbish and rude. But it was just his nature.

"I was awake," Emma blurted quietly, much to his displeasure. His eyes opened wide, as did his mouth, slightly. He realised she was actually awake when he kissed her cheek and held her hand, and said goodbye, "...Why haven't you left... you've already said goodbye..."

"I... didn't mean..." Gaara uttered, trying to lie his way out of things. He tried hard to conceal his anger at her lying about being asleep.

Emma smiled weakly, she had wanted him to speak so badly. The way his rough voice rolled off of his tongue made her want to swoon in some ways. But she knew it was slightly foolish to think like that, she knew better. But, the voice was released and her eyes fluttered lightly at the sound.

Much to both of their amazement, Gaara found himself edging closer to the brunette, curly haired girl. As he shuffled closer, she quickly slipped an arm under his and brought him into a hasty hug. She held him tight as if letting go would be the end of her. He was so warm. The feeling of his head next to hers and his chest against her own made her want to fall asleep. But she knew better.

He cringed at the sudden contact, and tried to pry himself free from her grasp, he held his head away from her own. He didn't struggle, but prayed she'd let go soon. He was definitely not a close contact person, and she should've known that.

"Never-mind about me..." She said quietly, from the junction between his shoulder and his head.

She sounded content, at least, which was what Gaara wanted her too feel like. He shivered a little, and eventually managed to rest his head against her own and rest a hand on the top of her back. He gently hugged her back.

"...Okay..." he said, nearly making Emma giggle at the choice of words.

Emma's stomach lurched against his, and reminded him of her condition, and, with a little force, he removed himself from against her and moved back. He let out an anticipated breath and took a long breath of fresher air. He let her one arm dangled over his shoulder and press against his neck.

"I'm sorry... I...don't even know you, and, I mean," she drabbled, not making eye contact with the boy.

She was hushed into a silence when Gaara stroked her forehead and pulled her close again, planting a hard and plain yet soft and eligible kiss on her lips. He pulled away, and Emma withdrew her arm. He could see her expression clearly at the slight distance, her mouth was a cross between a smile and a frown, somewhere in the middle, and her eyes were wide.

"...never-mind," he suggests, but is quickly worried when she instantly responds with a flurry of coughs, sending a little blood to drip from the corner of her mouth, maybe kissing her was a bad idea?

"I-I'm so sorry," She said, embarrassed, before adding with a mutter, "stupid blood,"

Once again, Gaara did something very unlike him, he reached out across the bed with his thumb protruding from an enclosed palm, and he wiped away the blood in one swift motion. Before drawing his hand back in and sucking the blood off from the skin. Not removing his hard-on eyes from her shivering own.

"...Don't worry," He whispered, taking her hand solidly and holding it between them both, "...just go to sleep,"

He tried to sound as reassuring as he could be, despite it being pretty hard with his gritty voice. She looked at him in disbelief for a while longer, before closing her eyes and loosening her grip on his hand. She definitely going to need a rest. A long one.

The red-headed boy stared at the girl until he was _sure _she was asleep. He let go of her hand and shimmied off the end of the bed. He set the covers right and stood on the opposite side of the bed for a while. He watched her as she drew her free arm back up to her chest and rolled over.

He sent the sleeping girl a minute smile, before quietly exiting the room, closing the door behind him.


	10. Bottle O' Sand

She awoke to find her alarm clocks' face staring blankly at her and blaring the time across her face with a red L.E.D light. She stares at it, although not registering the time. She weakly pulled her arms out from under the confinement of her covers and placed them on her face, she groaned in annoyance. She felt like she had a hangover or something.

Emma closed her heavy eyelids in an attempt to go back to sleep, when some persistent thoughts suddenly barge into her mind. Yelling at her to get up. Then she remembered.

"Shit,"

She sat up hastily, ignoring the dizziness she felt, and twister her body to stare at the other side of the bed. The covers were perfectly made, not a crease in sight. Goes to prove there had been no-body laying there at all. It put her memories to slight shame.

The girl moved a fleshy coloured hand to her chin and coughed falsely; no blood came spewing up her throat, and both her hand and chin remained blood-free.

Hastily, she swung her legs around the edge of the bed and stands up, swaying slightly from the quick movements. She rose her arms to steady herself as she stumbled forward and attempted to put on her slippers. She realised then that she hadn't worn them in ages.

Emma rushed downstairs, skipping lots of steps, and searched for her new friends, they weren't in the bathroom, living room, dining room, or the kitchen.

Quietly, and defeatedly, she walked back into the living room and raised her head. The place was spotless, as if there had never been any visitors in the first place. Worriedly, Emma made her way over to the window and pressed her cheek and a hand against the cool glass. She stared upwards. Not a cloud in the sky, a good sign for the weather. No rain.

With a slight growl, she lumbered back over to the three-seater and sat in the middle square. Throwing her head into her hands and clasping tightly at her hair.

Where were the people she rescued? Where were the characters from the Naruto anime? They couldn't of just left, like that, could they?

After a while, she removed her hands from over her face, and stared blankly forward, with tears streaming down her fresh-morning face. They're gone.

Her eyes averted to something on the coffee table in-front of her, and she was almost mildly surprised when her eyes caught hold of a card and a neatly wrapped present.

She moved quickly, and grabbed the card in haste, and rips the front open and reads the greeting on the front of the card. It was simple.

_'Get well soon'_

She almost laughed.

She opened the card up and read the contents. Her eyes welling up further at every word, a few tears dropped down onto the card. She was hasty to remove the card in order to prevent it fro getting any further wet. She continued to read the card.

_' To Emma,_

_Thanks for everything. You've been great, there was a storm while you were asleep, according to Naruto, like the one that occurred when he arrived, and we took it as our ticket home... you've been an amazing person, Emma, we won't forget you! I hope you like your present, we wrapped it, despite Gaara not wanting us too, he said it looked nicer on it's own. But everyone else disagreed. I hope you like it ! Goodbye !_

Emma's heart stings tugged a little and she smiled at Temari's neat handwriting, she loved at the way everyone had signed their own names onto the card.

_Temari :)x , Sasuke. Kankuro xxxxxx, Sakura x thanks for the nail-polish! , Naruto xXx I'll miss u ;) , Gaara._

Emma smirked a little. Gaara didn't write anything along the lines of 'I love you' or even any kisses, unlike his flirty brother. She knew he didn't want to show anything to anyone about his feelings, he was too secretive.

Emma's eyes quickly scanned the rest of the card and picked up some small, etchy letters at the bottom,

_p.t.o._

She flipped the card overleaf and her heart clenched when she saw long paragraph wrote onto a sticky note, probably stuck on quickly as the card was put into it's envelope. Emma read it to herself, in her head, savouring every word. By now her eyes had stopped leaking, but her lip instead still quivered slightly, as did her whole body, to be quite frank.

_Emma,_

_I'm so sorry. We came to you for help, and only ended up hurting you, literally... but I'm glad we were able to meet you. Your amazing. There isn't much room on this sticky note so I'm going to say something, and say it quick._

_I like you. Lots._

_There. I said it. Now go enjoy your life._

_Gaara._

_Ps. Turn the television on, around 9pm, to whatever channel you watch us on._

She held the card to her chest. She smiled at the thought of Gaara not being able to bring himself to write 'I love you'. Her teeth clenched and her head bowed. She was going to keep this as proof to herself that it all happened. She raised her head and smiled, and her attention was quickly drawn to the present. She reached out and took it, before quickly opening the purple and pink striped wrapping paper which she knew she kept under the three-seater, her stomach once again churned when she unravelled a small bottle, filled with coloured sands. In the following order from the bottom up; Red sand for Gaara, Orange for Naruto, Yellow for Temari, Purple for Kankuro, Blue for Sasuke, and Pink for Sakura.

The cork has a small love heart doodled in Biro on the top.

Emma smiled to herself.


	11. A simple Ending

She flicked through the channels, looking for the correct one. Her grin widened and her free hand clasped tighter at her box of popcorn when she entered the channel and the episodes' intro began to play. She had no idea why she had popcorn, but it seemed right for the occasion.

The correct channel, correct time, and everything. Emma awaited through the intro, for the episode. Quietly hoping for the best.

She listened intently to everything the characters said and everything they did, silently wishing they could do something to get her attention. Surely if they went back to their world, then they could do something to say to her that they remembered. It was either that, or they didn't remember.

The episode continued on until the credits played. Emma threw down her empty box of popcorn and grumbled to herself. They didn't do anything, Gaara had lied.

She stood up off the sofa and stretched, turning back to face the television. Her attention was drawn to the mantle beneath it, where she had rested the bottle of sand, and the card sitting nestled behind it, in it's envelope. That place was where it was going to stay, forever.

Something similar to naruto popped up halfway through the credits and stretched across the screen. At the top, it was labelled, 'EXTRA SCENE'.

With renewed interest, Emma jumped back down onto her sofa and stared up through the dim, flickering lighting of the living room up to the blaring television. She squinted as she recognised the Kazekage's office. Lot's of shinobi were gathered around the desk.

She held her breath, was this what they were wanting her to see?

She scanned through the people as the camera stayed put, everyone was there, except Sasuke. I guess he had his reasons for not being there during the actual Anime.

The camera switched and it showed Gaara's hands placing something into a box. Emma didn't get time too see it properly, because the camera switched again to Naruto's face. He was wearing his headband, and his ninja stuff. He was grinning madly as if looking pleased with himself.

The camera move back to Gaara's animated hands. Ha had put the small silver object into a box and had closed the lid. It was just a plain box.

The camera backed up and the characters all looked happy, exchanged glances and smiles.

Emma concentrated on Gaara's 2d face, his eyes were focused on the box, and his expressions were fickle and passive. He looked upset.

She cursed herself for not having Sky+, as she could of rewound the scene and seen what the object was. She threw her head back and moaned when the credits then continued to play.

"I don't get it," she groaned in annoyance, "Was that a sign or something?"

She turned off the television, and the room was plunged into darkness, seeing as it was half 9 at night. Emma slowly snuggled up under her 'movie-watching' blanket and threw her head against a pillow she'd brought down from upstairs.

Everything fell silent for a while and all Emma could hear was the steadiness of her breathing. Her mind ticked over all the events she had been through in the mere week. Everything she had done, said, and given.

She mind repeated that word.

Given.

What had she given?

Emma's eyes opened wide, and her mouth dropped. She knew what she gave. And now she knew what the extra scene was.


End file.
